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The Beatles’ politics
This article argues that the Beatles were instrumental in bringing together the hitherto divergent and mutually uncomprehending realms of politics and pop. Though not innovative political theorists, the Beatles were inventive political strategists who rehearsed virtually every technique subsequently used by politicised musicians. They practised consciousness-raising, lobbying, patronage, abstentionism and civil disobedience. They founded utopian institutions and considered the relative merits of anarchy, democracy and revolutionary socialism. The multitude of political strategies adopted by the Beatles testified to their difficulties in finding one congruent with their outlook and temperament. Furthermore, the anti-authoritarianism which formed the one consistent aspect of their political worldview was simplistic and their solutions were correspondingly unrealistic. They nevertheless did much to legitimise pop music as a means of political expression, to devise organisational structures to support such political activity and to politicise those who produced and consumed pop.
History
School
- Social Sciences
Department
- Politics and International Studies
Citation
COLLINS, M., 2014. The Beatles’ politics. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 16 (2), pp. 291-309.Publisher
John Wiley & Sons © The Author. British Journal of Politics and International Relations © Political Studies AssociationVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
Publication date
2014Notes
Closed access. This article was published in the journal, British Journal of Politics and International Relations [© The Author. British Journal of Politics and International Relations © Political Studies Association] and the definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-856X.2012.00545.xISSN
1369-1481Publisher version
Language
- en